1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a medical robotic system.
2. Background Information
Historically, surgery has been performed by making large incisions in a patient to provide access to the surgical site. There has been developed instruments that allow a surgeon to perform a procedure through small incisions in the patient. The instruments include an endoscope which has a camera that allows the surgeon to view the internal organs of the patient through a small incision. Such procedures are less traumatic to the patient and have shorter recovery times than conventional surgical procedures.
Such instruments have even been used to perform minimally invasive heart surgery. Blockage of a coronary artery may deprive the heart of blood and oxygen required to sustain life. The blockage may be removed with medication or by an angioplasty. For severe blockage a coronary artery bypass graft (CABG) is performed to bypass the blocked area of the artery. CABG procedures are typically performed by splitting the sternum and pulling open the chest cavity to provide access to the heart. An incision is made in the artery adjacent to the blocked area. The internal mammary artery is then severed and attached to the artery at the point of incision. The internal mammary artery bypasses the blocked area of the artery to again provide a full flow of blood to the heart. Splitting the sternum and opening the chest cavity can create a tremendous trauma to the patient. Additionally, the cracked sternum prolongs the recovery period of the patient.
Computer Motion of Goleta, Calif. provides a system under the trademark ZEUS that allows a surgeon to perform minimally invasive surgery, including CABG procedures. The procedure is performed with instruments that are inserted through small incisions in the patient's chest. The instruments are controlled by robotic arms. Movement of the robotic arms and actuation of instrument end effectors are controlled by the surgeon through a pair of handles and a foot pedal that are coupled to an electronic controller. Alternatively, the surgeon can control the movement of an endoscope used to view the internal organs of the patient through voice commands.
The handles and a screen are typically integrated into a console that is operated by the surgeon to control the various robotic arms and medical instruments of a ZEUS system. Utilizing a robotic system to perform surgery requires a certain amount of training. It would be desirable to provide a system that would allow a second surgeon to assist another surgeon in controlling a robotic medical system. The second surgeon could both teach and assist a surgeon learning to perform a medical procedure with a ZEUS system. This would greatly reduce the time required to learn the operation of a robotically assisted medical system.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,217,003 issued to Wilk discloses a surgical system which allows a surgeon to remotely operate robotically controlled medical instruments through a telecommunication link. The Wilk system only allows for one surgeon to operate the robotic arms at a given time. Wilk does not disclose or contemplate a system which allows two different surgeons to operate the same set of robotic arms.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,609,560 issued to Ichikawa et al. and assigned to Olympus Optical Co. Ltd. discloses a system that allows an operator to control a plurality of different medical devices through a single interface. The Olympus patent does not disclose a system which allows multiple surgeons to simultaneously perform a surgical procedure.